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I love it when I get real wedding submissions that actually inspire me! This gorgeous US wedding took my breath away – and is the absolute pinnacle of what a DIY wedding can be! There are so many lovely ideas in here, but I’ll let Elizabeth tell you her story in her own words.

“The summer before my senior year of college, I went to Sevilla, Spain for a month to take a TESOL teaching course. The daughter of one of my mom’s coworkers had been studying there the previous semester, and this girl gave me the email address of a Spanish friend so that I could meet someone right away to practice Spanish with. That friend turned out to be my now husband! Tomás and I fell in love seriously in three days. We had a long distance relationship for the first year, seeing each other every three months in either Spain or Pennsylvania. After college, I moved to Spain for two years to teach and be with Tomás. Three and a half years after we met, Tomás proposed, and now we’re married!”

Elizabeth and Tomas opted for a shabby chic wedding theme

“A summer night in late July 2010, Tomás asked me to come outside–he had been outside all evening supposedly building a bonfire with my brother and he wanted me to see it. As soon as I got outside though, I saw that Tomás had actually been out there creating a beautifully romantic scene. He led me to my parents’ pool, where dozens of tiny candles were floating in the water. He told me we were going on a special walk, and let me to another part of the tard where I saw a pathway made by candles. Under each candle was a paper heart with a characteristic of our relationship written on it, like “respect”, “love for nature”, etc. After reading all the hearts, the candle path led us to the vegetable garden that we had built and been tending all summer. When we got to the garden, Tomás read me a poem he wrote comparing our growing love to the growing garden. Then he got down on his knee and proposed! My engagement ring was my great-grandmother’s ring that my grandmother gave me before she passed away several years before. My mom had been holding on to it until Tomás was ready to ask for it. It was such a lovely proposal!”

“I planned the wedding with lots of support from my mom and friends. I absolutely loved the way I decorated the tables. I spent our engagement year collecting glass bottles, vintage doilies, and lovebird figurines, and the way they all came together just looked so pretty and very shabby chic. It also meant a lot to me because I had put so much time and love into collecting these decorations.”

“As soon as we were engaged, I started combing wedding magazines and blogs and kept a notebook of photos I liked. It didn’t take long for me to realize that most of the pictures I was saving shared asoft, romantic, vintage style. Tomás and I both really love antiques and tend to like things that have a homey, lived-in style, so shabby chic was a perfect fit.”

If I were to give any advice to brides-to-be, it’s that making your wedding really about you and your future husband requires a lot of thought and planning, which takes a lot of time–especially if you want to DIY parts of it. But in my experience it was SO worth it, because on the day of the wedding, everything was just what I wanted, and it felt US.”

It’s been a week or so since I blogged about shabby chic weddings and in that time I’ve seen quite a few inspiring things. I’ll do a few of these shabby chic wedding decorations posts, but for now, here’s the first! Enjoy:

Wellies aren’t just for the rain

You may have seen my last real wedding, provided by the gorgeous Hannah Stevenson. She filled yellow wellies with flowers as a tribute to the footwear she was wearing when her groom proposed. But wellies don’t need to have a special meaning for you to incorporate them in your day. Filling wellies with flowers is a cute and quirky touch that everyone will notice! You can either leave it to a florist or re-pot a potted plant into the wellies yourself.

Vintage bird cages

Like this one from Wedding Direct at Amazon. There’s very little you can’t do with them! Fill them with flowers for your centrepieces, or hang them around the room at different heights to decorate the venue. Put a candle in them. Decorate them with clip on butterflies, do what you like with them. It’s very very difficult to make a bird cage look bad. If buying so many is a bit steep, you can rent them from many vintage crockery and decoration companies.

Bird cage by Weddings Direct at Amazon

Vintage luggage tags

Use them as place settings, hang them up to form a unique table plan, tie them to a vintage suitcase and let people write their honeymoon going away wishes instead of a guest book, tie them to favours, or even write a special message to each of your friends on them, if the wedding is small enough for you to do that! You can get 6 for £2.50 from The Wedding of my Dreams.

When Hannah Stevenson went on holiday to New York to visit a friend, she had no idea she was about meet her future husband! Jason Clark had a stopover in the city for a few days on his way back from a holiday in Peru – and happened to visit that same mutual friend.

Over six years later, Jason brought Hannah back to New York to propose at the place they first met. However, not everything went to plan. Jason had intended to propose in Central Park – but the park was evacuated due to adverse weather conditions before he had the chance. His plan B was to take her to the top of the Empire State Building – how very Sleepless in Seattle! Sadly, that plan was also scuppered by Hannah’s rather baffling reluctance to climb the building in New York’s worst blizzard in twenty years!

Third time lucky, Jason ended up getting the proposal really right – by proposing outside of Tiffany’s – echoing the classic movie and the first DVD Jason ever bought Hannah, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and making her feel like a real-life version of her all-time icon, Audrey Hepburn. Ahh!

After over a year’s engagement, the couple laughed in the face of superstition and married on Friday 13th May 2011 at St Marks Church in Staplefield, West Sussex.

Hannah and her father at the church

The beautiful bride

Lavender was a simple decoration that helped give the day it's vintage country feel

The reception was held in a marquee on Staplefield village common and was planned by the couple themselves. In true country village tradition, they wanted it to be a relaxed day, informal but still in-keeping with tradition. The picturesque Sussex village location provided the perfect setting for a shabby chic / vintage wedding.

The happy couple outside the marquee

The day was a real family affair. “We got married in the village where my parents live and where I was brought up,” explains Hannah, “Staplefield is a very small quaint picturesque Sussex village, with the common in the centre of village, the shabby chic theme just fitted the whole setting perfectly.” Hannah walked from her parents’ house to the church with her family (dad, mum, sister, oh and the family dog Winnie!) Winnie accompanied the mother of the bride down the aisle.

It was Hannah’s décor that made the day something truly special and unique. All 125 metres of bunting in the marquee was handmade by her best friend and family, giving it that extra special touch. Extra special was actually the order of the day. With the decorations hand-chosen by Hannah, many had a unique meaning to the couple. The tables were named after places in New York – the place it all started. A friend of the family created framed pictures rather than plain table numbers – which Hannah and Jason now keep as mementos of the day.

New York themed table numbers

For the favours, Hannah’s mum, sister and friend made homemade fudge, and Hannah tied luggage tags to them so they doubled up as place settings.

Perhaps the most quirky and personal touch was the flower-filled yellow wellies – Hannah happened to be wearing them the day she got engaged. In desperate need of snow shoes and lumped with the only colour left (bright yellow) “It became a bit of joke with friends that I was wearing yellow wellies in New York when we got engaged,” says Hannah, “I thought it would be fun to make a bit of a feature of them!”

Credits

Hannah wore a gorgeous Jesus Peiro dress and was made even more beautiful by Jen Dodson, Hair and Make-Up. The flowers were by Bryony Billingham, a local independent florist, who was responsible for all the floral arrangements from lavender in the church, bouquets, table decorations and, of course, the famous wellies. The hog roast was provided by Three of a Kind Caterers.

All photo credits go to photographer, Carl Glancey, whose unobtrusive style helped the couple relax and take some fab photos.